Lisa Walker

Lisa Walker studied at Otago Polytechnic and Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Training under Otto Künzli and Kobi Bosshard is recorded. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at Wellington and Munich. Work by Lisa Walker is recorded in the collections of Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum of Applied Arts and Science and jewellery museum Pforzheim. Distinctions recorded are Françoise van den Bosch Prijs, Förderpreis für Design der Landeshauptstadt München and Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

• Name — Lisa Walker • Honorific Suffix — ONZM • Born — 1967 • Birthplace — Wellington, New Zealand • Known for — Jewellery • Spouse — Karl Fritsch • Website — http: www.lisawalker.de Lisa Walker ONZM (born 1967) is a contemporary New Zealand jeweller.

Born in Wellington in 1967, Walker graduated from Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, in 1988 with a Certificate in Craft Design. In Dunedin her tutors included German-trained jeweller Georg Beer and Swiss-trained jeweller Kobi Bosshard. After completing her studies, Walker moved to Auckland, where along with Areta Wilkinson, Anna Wallis and Helen O'Connor she established the jewellery workshop Workshop 6.

In 1995 Walker moved to Germany, and from 1995 to 2001 studied under jeweller Otto Kunzli at the 'Klasse Kunzli' at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München in Munich. In Munich, Walker established a successful international career as a jeweller, including being recognised with the 2010 Françoise van den Bosch Award for "work of an outstanding quality that influences and appeals to younger generations of artists internationally". In 2009 Walker returned to Wellington with her partner, jeweller Karl Fritsch.

Walker's work "questions conventional concepts about jewellery's beauty and wearability" by using second-hand items and materials found in hobby stores, as well as non-traditional techniques such as glueing materials together. Materials she has incorporated into her jewellery include rubber bands, wood dowelling, sequins, tape, leather, paua shell veneer, stuffed toys, artificial grass, freshwater pearls, steel, lacquer and fabric. Art historian Dionea Rocha-Watt observes that Walker "may have abandoned some traditional skills but is still referencing the history of jewellery, with a great sense of colour and composition." In a review of a 2015 exhibition of Walker's work, art critic Warren Feeney wrote: Over the past 20 years, Walker has played a critical role in the development of contemporary jewellery in New Zealand and internationally, making work that confronts familiar perceptions about what a precious object might be. This ability to pose question after question about the possibilities of her work is apparent, not only in her comments about individual pieces, but equally in the range of materials, subjects, processes and scale of her jewellery. In 2015 Walker joined the photo-sharing website Instagram. She has noted that the site provides a "huge hunting ground" for inspiration, and that currently she draws more from imagery she finds online than on objects in the physical world for starting points for her own making. She has also collaborated with performance art/music group Chicks on Speed, initially when she met the participants while studying in Germany, but also in shows in New Zealand, contributing pieces from unused costumes, or works specifically created for performances. A recent work by Walker made of pieces of pounamu was included as an illustration in New Zealand historian Barbara Brookes' A History of New Zealand Women as an example of how contemporary New Zealand jewellery reflects a sense of place.

• 2007 Förderpreis der Stadt München (City of Munich scholarship) • 2009 Francoise van den Bosch Award • 2015 Laureate Award, Arts Foundation of New Zealand. In the 2022 Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours, Walker was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a jeweller.

The following is established of the heading itself.